Sing your heart out with these iconic Valentine’s Day hits

One of my favorite times of the year is Valentine's Day. Just thinking about it is enough to get excited: flowers, the love and the romantic gestures. But one thing that really gets me excited is the fact that I get to blast love songs — without getting glares from the single people or getting yelled at to turn the music off.

Love is in the air, folks! These are some of the best songs you can play during the season of love:

"Lover" by Taylor Swift

There's no other choice but to include this iconic love song as the very first song on any love playlist. I absolutely adore this song, especially because it has such a strong meaning behind it. In "Lover," Swift writes about her loving relationship with her longtime boyfriend, actor Joe Alwyn. While it got plenty of praise when it first was released, listening to this song more than two years later, I believe it’s still an amazing lyrical masterpiece.

I admire the way it paints a picture of a couple from beginning to end and makes for a great story for the music video. It’s the perfect romantic anthem, with beautiful and romantic lines like, "We could leave the Christmas lights up 'til January/And this is our place, we make the rules/And there's a dazzling haze, a mysterious way about you, dear/Have I known you for 20 seconds or 20 years?"

Swift also performed on "Saturday Night Live" when the "Lover" album was first released in 2019. She sang the piano version of the album's title track, which I find even more breathtaking than the original.

"Perfect Duet" by Ed Sheeran and Beyoncé

While we all know that Sheeran is a lyrical genius and that Beyoncé is a musical legend, what I didn’t find out until this year was that they collaborated on Sheeran’s song "Perfect" when it got released in 2017.

And I absolutely lost it when I listened! Beyoncé’s verse is so elegant and beautiful, making the "Perfect" duet the perfect song to slow dance to if you’re planning to put on your dancing shoes for Valentine’s Day.

I loved Sheeran’s original version of the song, but this version is even better with the different harmonies that are featured as well as the contrast in the voices of Sheeran and Beyoncé.

"All of Me" by John Legend 

"All of Me" is an iconic love song that Legend released in 2013. In this song, Legend sings about loving every single inch of his partner as he says, "'Cause all of me/Loves all of you/Love your curves and all your edges/All your perfect imperfections."

This is so sweet and definitely a song I would play to celebrate my Valentine’s Day. I love the various performances that Legend does for this song, including the original track — but especially the stripped-down live versions, which give such a raw, emotional quality to the song.

"Shout Out To My Ex" by Little Mix 

This may not be a love song, but this is the perfect anthem for those who don't have a date for Valentine’s Day — more specifically if you’re going through a breakup. I absolutely love this song because it shows everything that I'm feeling.

"Shout Out to My Ex" was speculated to be about Perrie Edwards’ relationship with singer Zayn, aka Zayn Malik, mostly because it was released shortly after they called off their engagement.

In the song, Little Mix sings, "Shout out to my ex, you're really quite the man/You made my heart break and that made me who I am/Here's to my ex, hey, look at me now/Well, I, I'm all the way up/I swear you'll never bring me down." The empowering lyrics make this the perfect anthem for those who are going through heartbreak this season.

If you are anything like me, love songs are being played pretty much year-round — after all, I love pop music, and pop music is basically love music! If you're looking for other recommendations to blast this Valentine's Day, check out the rest of the songs on this playlist.